How to work with the spooky, sensitive and reactive horse
Dealing with your horses flight and startle response is basically being an equestrian. I've had many instructors and coaches over the years tell me different ways to work with it from being scarier than the thing they are scared of to densensitisation training and what we work on in the school now we call emotional agility skills.
Working with our horses to support the development of relaxation and confidence through curiousity skills gives the horse both the skills to know what to do when they are scared and experience of what confidence feels like when they overcome their fear. This is 2 skills we use to develop a powerfully connected partnership with our horses and show up for them as leaders they can trust rather than trying to fix the "problem behaviour" and as a result pushing a wedge in our horses trust and confidence in us so that they disconnect and shut down at best and become more reactive and unsafe at worst.
Keen as a bean to have an array of lesson plans to choose from so that each training session is designed to bring you and your horse closer together not drive each other further apart?